Top 10 Reagan Achievements

With the centennial of Ronald Reagan’s birth this Feb. 6, it is fitting to recall the achievements of one of the greatest Presidents in the history of this nation:

1. Ending the Cold War: The Cold War had raged since World War II and communism‘s quest for world domination remained an existential threat to the United States when President Reagan took office. Reagan reversed the policy of detente and stood firm against the Soviet Union, calling it the Evil Empire and telling Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall” in Berlin. He was relentless in pushing his Strategic Defense Initiative and gave aid to rebels battling Soviet-backed Marxists from Nicaragua to Angola. Those efforts were critical in the ultimate collapse of the Soviet empire and essentially ended the Cold War.

2. Reaganomics: Reagan’s mix of across-the-board tax cuts, deregulation, and domestic spending restraint helped fuel an economic boom that lasted two decades. Reagan inherited a misery index (the sum of the inflation and unemployment rates) of 19.99%, and when he left office it had dropped to 9.72%. President Obama take note: Under Reaganomics, 16 million new jobs were created.

3. Revitalizing the GOP and the conservative movement: The Republican Party was at its nadir after Watergate, but Reagan was able to form a winning coalition of fiscal conservatives, family-values voters, blue-collar Reagan Democrats and neo-conservative intellectuals and set the stage for future GOP electoral gains. His free-market, small-government, pro-liberty conservatism helped to revitalize the GOP and his influence resonates today as conservative candidates still invoke Reagan as their standard-bearer.

4. Peace through Strength: The military was diminished during the Carter years, but Reagan reversed that by rebuilding the armed forces. His Peace Through Strength philosophy was manifested by his reviving the B-1 bomber that Carter canceled, starting production of the MX missile, and pushing NATO to deploy Pershing missiles in West Germany. He increased defense spending by more than 40%, increased troop levels, and even got much-needed space parts into the pipeline. Those efforts ensured that America remained a military superpower.

5. Morning in America: It was basically a slogan for Reagan’s 1984 reelection bid, but Morning in America symbolized a new beginning for the country. Reagan’s jaunty optimism and an economic boom was a much-needed tonic for a country that had experienced the malaise of the Carter years and the traumas of Watergate and Vietnam.

6. Star Wars: Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative was derided by his opponents as being technologically unfeasible, but the mere threat of the U.S. building the system was instrumental in the Soviet Union’s collapse. The successful use of Patriot missile batteries in the first Gulf War proved the critics wrong, and the missile defense system that ensued has lessened the threat of ballistic missiles.

7. Nuclear weapons cuts: Even as massive demonstrations were held in Europe against Reagan’s hawkish stance on nuclear arms, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty he signed with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eliminated an entire class of nuclear weapons. He also laid the framework with Gorbachev for the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which reduced both countries’ arsenals of nuclear weapons.

8. Voiced values: Reagan gave voice to the values that had served America well—thrift, patriotism, and hard work—and often recounted the wisdom of the Founding Fathers. He also championed the causes of the pro-life and family-values movements that sought to counter the societal upheavals of the 1960s and 1970s.

9. Tax reform: Not only did he cut tax rates, but the Tax Reform Act of 1986 simplified the income-tax code by eliminating many tax shelters, reducing the number of deductions and tax brackets. Reagan’s dream of tax returns fitting on a postcard has been nullified as Congress has regressed and continued to make the tax code more complex, necessitating a new push for reform.

10. Taking on PATCO: Early in his administration, members of the federal air traffic controllers union (PATCO) went on strike, violating a federal regulation. Declaring the strike a “peril to national safety,” Reagan gave the workers an ultimatum and ended up firing more than 11,000 of the controllers, sending a strong signal that union workers needn’t be coddled.

Reagan was a Natiional hero. That is why Obama’s propaganda machine is trying to lie that Obama is in Reagan’s league. That is a pukeable thought. We have two more years of ineptness in the White House. Thank god we have the Republicans in the house to block more of his wasteful spending

JimPVA

Leftwingers have been enacting a full court press since Obama’s SOTU trying to deconstruct Reagan as a conservative, bestow Reagan’s credibility and popularity on Obama, and marginalize the Tea Party all at the same time. Apparently orchestrated by the Soros machine these leftwingers have popped up on conservative talk radio, talking head television programs and the conservative blogosphere pointing out that Reagan raised taxes 11 times thus negating all his tax cuts, granted amnesty to illegals, and saying that the Tea Party would never accept Reagan because he wasn’t conservative enough. This last as a way of discrediting the TP by inference since Reagan was allegedly a right wing extremist and to not accept Reagan means you must be even further right than Reagan and therefore beyond the pale of acceptability. Some have even been claiming that he never gave up on being a New Deal Democrat. This is all an obvious desperation move to help save Obama from himself and discredit fiscal conservatism.

Yes Reagan compromised with the Dem controlled Congress waaaay too many times and raised taxes 11 times, in good faith, for reductions in spending that never materialized or didn’t last long. His tax increases were less than half of the tax cuts though. That’s fact. And yet, even after raising taxes all those times, the Fed still took in double the revenue it was getting in 1980 by 1989, and the Dems STILL ran a deficit. Reagan was much too nice and trusting that the Dems & RINOs would keep their word. Same goes for amnesty. RR made a mistake trading arms for hostages too. No conservatives, or TPers, think he was perfect. But he was still 100% better than any Dem or Repub since. As far as him being unacceptable to the TP, that’s just agitprop. One reason the TP is zealous about fiscal repsonsibility etc is because we remember Reagan’s good faith compromises with Dems and RINOs that never came true, and so we know they can never, ever be trusted again.

jimmy6

Reagan was a old clown when he beat Jimmy and was out of his mind the last 3 years he was President. He raised tax’s and America’s poorest of the poor were all over the streets. Just like all gop pigs he was not a friend to the working men and women. He left us in more red ink and was no “Hero”. Don’t believe me, check his record. President Obama was handed a gop pig mess and 2 gop pig wars so all you reagan lovers need to stop playing make believe…….ie.palin the moose killer……

Mutatis Mutandis

Reagan’s legacy-

He expanded Government, raised taxes(He presided over the largest tax increase on the Middle Class in history), doubled the national debt, caused the S&L crisis, nearly wrecked the financial system, bailed out corporations, gave amnesty to illegals, supported Al Qaeda, cocaine for arms, Iran/Contra, pushed both the international transactions current account and the federal budget into deficit and led to a significant increase in public debt, average household income decreased under Reagan, sold chemical & biological weapons to Iraq , told CIA buddy Saddam Hussein to step up bombing of Iran while still selling weapons to Iran in a war that claimed an estimated one million victims, Under direct US control, Reagan’s ‘Freedom Fighters’ raped, tortured and murdered tens of thousands of innocent civilians in Nicaragua in an effort to bring down Nicaragua’s first democratically elected government, Reagans puppet military dictators abducted, tortured, murdered and mutilated over 200,000 civilians in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, America’s worst financial disaster since the Great Depression occured under Reagan with the collapse of the Savings & Loan system. Nearly $500 billion was looted from thousands of Savings & Loans by a criminal ring that included Neil Bush, .

Stupid quotes like- “Trees cause more pollution than automobiles do,” “I am not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care of itself.”,”Well, I learned a lot….I went down to (Latin America) to find out from them and (learn) their views. You’d be surprised. They’re all individual countries”.

“And let’s not forget the wages of “trickle down” economics and “Reaganomics,” from which we have still not recovered. In 1982, the Congressional Budget Office found that taxpayers earning under $10,000 lost an average of $240 from Reagan’s 1981 tax cuts, while those earning more than $80,000 gained an average of $15,130. By that fall, the jobless rate hit 10.1 percent—the worst in 42 years, and a year later 11.9 million were out of work. In 1983, the country’s poverty rate rose to 15 percent, the highest level since the mid-’60s.”

What would happen today if Obama gave amnesty to illegals? The very same people claiming Reagan is a hero would be calling for Obama’s impeachment.

If the Contras were relevant today- What would happen if U.S. officials were repeatedly informed that Contras ties to trafficking of drugs from Latin America into the United States and that airplanes from the U.S. used to supply arms to the Contras were being flown back with Contras personnel aboard carrying cocaine into the United States? Would the right let Obama off the hook?

These people worked for Reagan and all were convicted of crimes during the Reagan administration and most went to prison-

He’s still uniting people even from the grave on his 100th birthday..What a diverse bunch of people he got together.

Mick553

Ignorance runs rampant among liberals. Study American history and learn the truth. The clowns you refer to are people like Jimmy Carter and Obama. The pig mess you are talking about started when Democrats took over Congress in 2006 and went viral in 2010 when Obama took office. Get your fingers out of your ears and open your eyes. Like most liberals you buy into the propaganda and don’t want to know the truth.

Ed_USA

There are some problems with facts here. Let’s get the glaring ones out of the way. 1) Ending the Cold War: The cold war was still going when Reagan left office. Gorbachev, however, continued doing what he was doing when Reagan left, which was ending the cold war. This is well documented in declassified records of the GHW Bush administration that you can find here http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/N…2) Reaganomics. Supply-side has been completely discredited. Everyone from Reagan’s own budget director David Stockman to all of mainstream economics has long agreed on this.4) “The military was diminished during the Carter years”. Actually, after the USSR invaded Afghanistan Carter began a military buildup that Reagan continued.6) Star Wars. It’s been 25 years, but we still do not have anything like the “impenetrable shield” that Reagan thought we were getting. As recently as December of 2010, Star Wars technology failed yet another test of its ability to stop even a single one of our own test missiles. You can read about it here http://www.reuters.com/article… The vision that Reagan had for Star Wars was impossible then and it’s impossible today. He wasted a grand opportunity to achieve meaningful progress on nuclear arms at Reykjavik because he was duped into believing in Star Wars by that evil troll Richard Perle.7) Nuclear weapons cuts: This is just “conservative” revisionism and hypocrisy. When Reagan signed the INF treaty he was vilified by “conservatives” for making America weak. George Will, for example, called Reagan “wildly wrong” for signing that treaty. It would be nice if we could CELEBRATE REAGAN’S 100th BY NOT TELLING LIES about him and about what he did.

Mick553

We must be fair here. How about the top 10 Obama achievements. Let’s see, there is 1. The illegal passage of the unconstitutional Obamacare, 2. Higher unemployment, 3. Increased deficit spending of taxpayers money, 4. Increased the national debt by $4 trillion dollars in less than two years, etc etc, etc. Oh, achievements. My mistake.

Funny how many liberals are now trying to compare Ronald Reagan to the likes of Obama. Now that is laughable. Obama is the complete opposite of Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan was a great American who loved America, where as Obama does not. Ronald Reagan was a true capitalist who believed in the free market system, Obama does not. Ronald Reagan understood that it was capitalism that made America great. Obama does not. Ronald Reagan was a man of honesty and integrity, Obama certainly is not. Ronald Reagan was a racial and political uniter, Obama is not. Ronald Reagan believed that America is an exceptional country, Obama does not.

So what does Obama believe in? Simple. He believes in a socialist America where the productive are penalized and the non-productive are rewarded. He believes in the redistribution of wealth rather than individuals taking responsibility for their own actions. Obama, like most liberals, has confused greed with ambition, which is what they want people to believe.

It is funny that liberals keep demonizing capitalism and condemn corporate executives for making millions of dollars, but don’t bat an eye when celebrities, film actors, film makers and sport figures make millions of dollars. Hmmm, wonder what the difference is? Maybe it is because so many celebrities are liberals and socialists themselves. Bet they are not willing to give up their millions.

TxConfederate

Why is BHO trying to identify himself with Reagan? Why not FDR or LBJ? Why? Because the latter were FAILURES. Just like BHO!

Billtexas

Darn, things were so bad under Reagan, it’s a real wonder he managed to win 525 electoral votes and 49 states in his re-election bid!

Culture_Warrior

Talk about hyperbole, “…one of the greatest Presidents…” Really?
Let’s see.
He he grew the national debt higher than any previous administration.
His administration saw the economic gains made by the middle class since WWII erode to zip.
“Reaganomics” brought about the beginning of the greatest upward redistribution of wealth in the history of the nation. While, as they say, “the rich got richer.” Trickle down was eventually repudiated by one of Reagan’s architects of Reaganomics, David Stockman.
Star Wars made us the laughing stock of the world. One wonders why the Soviets made such a stink about it. You’d have thought they were smart enough to see the uselessness of the scheme.

The only thing Reagan did that was respectful was his commitment to disarmament. His handlers were even alarmed at the lengths he wanted to go with Gorbachev to pare down the nuclear arsenals.

Yet it’s notable that the new GOP, a la Tea Partiers, have swerved so far to the right that even Reagan seems like a lefty.

gjd3

It’s truly amazing how many leftists come out of the woodwork with knee jerk reactions when talking about Reagan. There’s a real fear there, the truth is starting to sting a little and, like an ant caught under a magnifying glass, they’re starting to suirm and wiggle. I love it.

Victor Magilke

The temerity of Obama and the liberals comparing their Kenyan imbecile to one of our greatest presidents. Our nation was near collapse because of the Carter fiasco and was revitalized by Ronald Reagan.

Now with the fraudulent election of Barack Hussein Obama by Acorn and the Marxist movement, democracy in America has become extinct. America was assassinated November 4th 2008. The assassins were the radical Liberal Democrats. The Democratic Party has been hijacked by blacks, American hating liberals, Acorn criminals, fascists and terrorists. The biased news media wanted an African American to be president so they concealed Obama’s questionable past from patriotic Americans.

Obama is not the first African American president. Let us get the facts straight. His mother was the only American in his lineage and she was White. His father was Black African Arabic Muslim. Therefore we have elected the first African/Arabic President of the United States of America. How many Black African Americans do you know that are named Barack Hussein Obama. Every part of his name is Muslim and in honor to Islam and the Prophet Muhammad and his kin. All the Middle East supported him and understood his name and even praised his name and ancestry.

I did not vote for Obama because his was black. I didn’t vote for him because of the radicals that he associated with for the past twenty years, the ranting and raging of his church supporting Black Supremacy and White/Jew hatred. His comments in his books about who his heroes and mentors were, his speeches where he stated what he had planned for America, his talk of “Spreading the Wealth is taking money from working people and giving it to minorities on welfare who have never worked, never will and will be supported from the cradle to the grave.” His plans of censorship, his past legislation attempts to take away our guns and his legislation votes on late term abortions and radical liberal agenda is Marxism. I believe this man, by his own words, is not good for America .Taking the American Flag off his plane and creating his own Presidential seal and whatever that is on his podium clearly tells me he is indeed for change, depriving us of our freedom and constitutional rights. Change is all we will have left in our pockets when he finishes with us and the changes he will bring, Americans will not like. The people that voted for Obama deserve all the misery that he will give them.

President Bush and his family were cursed, called filthy names and mocked continuously on the Main Media, TV Late Night shows and now people are demanding that we show respect to Obama. I do not respect him, I will not respect him and I would never salute him other than with my middle finger. If I were in the military I would resign my Commission first. This President will get nothing from me but the same kind of treatment given to President Bush and his family.
Now these same radical liberals are castigating the greatest president in my lifetime. I say no to that, enough is enough.
I too have been threatened and attempts to intimidate me by blacks and radical Liberals have failed because I will not lie down and be anything but Free. There are 57 MILLION AMERICANS who did not vote for Obama for many of the same reasons that I chose not too. There is trouble brewing in this country. The very fact that Obama wants a Civilian Army bigger than the military ought to remind Americans of Hitler’s S.S… Who supports Obama? The Nation of Islam, see the million man march he attended? That is a pretty good start for his Civilian Army. How about the Black Panthers who were outside the voting polls in uniform and with clubs? Think they will be part of that Army? Then we have Louis Farrakhan, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Rev Wright and all the congregations like his full of White Hate, American Hate, Jew Hate and Black Supremacy. What and why does Obama want and need his own private Civilian Army? My guess is because he is well aware when he does get gun legislation passed and he needs our guns confiscated he knows darned well the Majority of our Military men and women, of whom I once was, will not go against decent American Patriots but the above haters surely will.

The Obama fascist presidency has divided America like never before in our history. I foresee a civil war, but not between the states, it will be between the people. You will have radical blacks, liberal terrorists and fascists on one side and white American patriots on the other side. My money’s on the patriots.

Victor Magilke

Good post. They don’t have the foggiest idea of what to do next. This is the most inept presidency in our history. It really galls me to refer to this racist imbecile as president.

Victor Magilke

Excellent post my friend. The misery we are enduring started in 2006 when the liberals took control of congress and escalated with the election of the racist Kenyan.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_G42T5P7LPRAPFRAU7BKOEIKXLU SharonH

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2009/060309.html
worst president ever….people like you are the reason this country is so divided. You spew hate. Patriot? You wouldn’t know one if he shot you….so only white people can be patriots? What a bigot…

Good call on Carter’s military record. These people don’t seem to remember that Vietnam was still leaving a foul taste and we were transitioning into a peacetime economy that had been wracked by the cost of Vietnam and the new-found potency of OPEC.

Carter’s legacy is the cruise missile, which is the godfather of today’s precision bombing. I’m not sure that enabling us to bomb the enemy to dust is a great legacy, but it beats General LeMay’s approach. He also has been the role model of an ex-president. Reagan did nothing for anybody after he left office, unlike Poppy Bush, Clinton, and even Bush Jr. That’s his privilege, but it should be noted.

kdmeares
missouri

mrlace

Like a 5 year old you repeat the moronic talking points of the party of idiot socialist. The Democrats reneged on their pledge to cut spending by $2 for every one dollar of tax increases which proved the Democrats are the party of scumbag liars.

mrlace

More Bullshit trying to prop up the worst President of the 20th century.

mrlace

Carter’s Legacy is the Misery index.

Victor Magilke

I met Jimmy Carter, even went to his Governors ball. What a disappointment he was. I also met Nixon and Spiro Agnew. I enjoyed them both, especially Agnew. He did put his foot in his mouth occasionally, but he was very pleasant and humorous. Never met Reagan but he was the number one president in my lifetime. I’ll catch some s*** for this, but Nixon was my second favorite president.

mrlace

Nixon was the most astute foriegn policy President of the 2oth century. After having the 1960 election stolen from him by the Kennedys,Nixon became a paranoid person. When he sent out his spies to counter any sabotage by the Democrats he broke the 11th Commandment. Thy shall not get caught.

Victor Magilke

Thank you for the kind words. You’re wrong. Barack and Michelle Obama the two racists are the reason that our country is so divided.

Victor Magilke

Excellent post. Very accurate information. Were it not for watergate, Nixon would be considered one of our great presidents. For some reason the liberal media hated Nixon and castigated him. I had the pleasure and honor to have met him and Agnew. I liked them both.

Ed_USA

I think you need to cut Reagan some slack on his activities after he left office. He was very old, and it’s clear that he was already having episodes of dementia.

Victor Magilke

I agree that Reagan was old when he left office, but he was more competent with Alzheimers than this inept moron is that we have in the white house today.

Victor Magilke

I’m sure you are speaking of the tyrant, your Messiah, Obama. It’s not just the 20th century, the Kenyan is the worst in history

mrlace

obama is not my messiah.

Mutatis Mutandis

Typical response from someone who when confronted by the facts they do not like, tell the facts to go away.

If you disagree with the 1st Amendment there are plenty of countries out there where free speech is not allowed.

Our Founding Fathers spoke many times about it being a citizen’s responsibility to question government. Too bad you do not share their beliefs.

pcombes

I’m aware of the first amendment. I’m just tired of the liberal spin on
things. – P

Victor Magilke

I’m like you. I respected Nixon, met him and was deeply honored. I did like Spiro better. I guess because of his sense of humor.

Guest

Yes, I still wonder about the political machinations of those who–when wanting to get rid of Nixon–had trepidations about who was next in line, so they conviently “found” something on Spiro.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003362688634 Jimmy Klinicki

….A more fitting title ” Iran – Contra, the lies America don’t Know”!….reagan was just an old “Senile Fool”!…….

http://www.facebook.com/mikejunemusic Mike June

When you look at that list of accomplishments, I think of two thingss

1) Not all of them are accurate (For instance, Reagan did not end the cold war. Even his Sec. OF Defense has said that repeatedly. And the whole “Reaganomics” giving us two decades of prosperity is certainly false. Do we not remember the major recession that took place right after he left office that was so bad, it forced Bush to raise taxes? It cost him his Presidency! And the “Star Wars” lead to the USSR collapse, its just not true. The USSR was having major financial problems for a long time before Ronnie’s INSANE, WASTEFUL plan.

2) All of these “accomplishments” could easily be turned into a list of the problems we are facing today. Like the 40 % increase in Military spending, which was completely unecessary at the time, and fueled by Reagan’s unhealthy fear of communism that drove his entire political life. “Deregulation”? Great, now we have banks that are “too big to fail”. Revitalizing the conservative movement? Really? We don’t have a conservative movement today. Just a bunch of uninformed morons calling themselves conservatives. Obama is closer to Reagan than Marco Rubio. In fact, today’s conservative would be calling Reagan a liberal!

http://www.facebook.com/mikejunemusic Mike June

Lets go through your little list, putting your racism aside:
a) I’m curious is to how you can call Obamacare “Unconstitutional”, since it was upheld by the Supreme Court?
b) Higher unemployment? I believe that Obama has lowered unemployment by two points.
c) Increased deficit. You are right there. Obama has increased the deficit, but by a slower rate than any president in over 40 years.
d) Increased the national debt? Yes, like every President ever.

And I wonder how you can call Reagan a patriot of honesty and integrity while saying Obama does not have these qualities? How do you explain Iran-Contra? The Panamanian drug-running? Funding both Iraq (ie, Saddam Hussein) and Iran in the same war? The war on drugs (the biggest waste of taxpayer money of all time)?

And just so you are aware: Redistribution of wealth and helping the poor, sick and hungry are the cornerstones of Christianity. In the Old testament and the New. So perhaps you should rethink you’re entire philosophy before you attack someone’s integrity.

http://profile.yahoo.com/LFVRL3C6BQWJQLL2PZ2UTVBAD4 Brandon

First of all, Mike, congratulations on being a typical liberal who screams racism where there is none. This is a combination of a strawman fallacy and an argumentum ad hominem, in which you are trying to discredit someone’s assertion by both attacking the person directly to discredit them, as well as by classifying them as being part of an unfavorable group of people (in this case, racists) when they’re actually not, all to make it easier to strike down their argument and make yourself appear morally superior, and by extension, your views.

In reality, just because someone disagrees with someone who happens to be a different race doesn’t magically make them a racist. The person you were responding to specifically pointed to Reagan as a racial UNITER in a positive light. Wouldn’t that be the exact opposite of racism? Regardless of this foolish race-baiting (which I strongly detest, if that wasn’t apparent), I’ll move on to your points.

a.) The Supreme Court only upheld that that the PENALTY was actually a tax, which Congress has the right to collect. The whole plan, however, is unconstitutional because the federal government’s powers are expressly limited and clearly defined in the Constitution, which specifically states that any powers not given to the federal government belong to the states. It’s called the 10th Amendment, and it was supposed to give diversity of law to the country so people could live under the law of their choosing while being able to easily move across state lines, similar to the EU…. like some sort of states that are united or something, hence the name of our contry. Instead, the federal government has become bloated, and the states’ power weakened significantly. And on top of that, bigger government = bigger taxes to support itself.

b.) Unemployment has not lowered except by the sleight-of-hand mathematical calculation of excluding anyone without work in over 2 years, which is an incredible stretch in the logical meaning of an unemployment rate. By contrast, the jobless rate, which includes those politically inconvenient people who were unable to find work before unemployment benefits ran out, is around 14.7% as of Oct. 2012.

c.) You’re simply wrong, the deficit increased more under Obama’s first two years than Bush did in both terms combined, and THAT rate of spending has only marginally slowed, but is still outrageously higher than any previous administration. Bush added $2.24T to the national debt altogether, Obama added $2.77T in his first two years. (See http://www.davemanuel.com/history-of-deficits-and-surpluses-in-the-united-states.php)

d.) Incorrect, yet again. Several presidents have actually produced a surplus, most notable of them being Bill Clinton, who continuously reduced deficit spending during his two terms until producing that surplus during his last three years. Again, see the link above.

I wonder how you can consider Obama a man of honesty & integrity when he constantly blamed Bush for things instead of owning up to his job like every other president that DIDN’T blame the previous administration. Or when he gave billions to his friends & campaign donors under the guise of a stimulus package (read: Solyndra). Or refusing to give orders (read: do his job) that could have saved the lives of people at Benhazi (gross negligence). How about all those campaign promises he made but never attempted to uphold, many of which he recycled during his 2nd term campaign? What about claiming to be a unifier of the nation while blaming things on the opposing party, supporting one-percenter rhetoric while doing nothing to close tax loops or inform the American people that the wealthy provide a huge majority of the federal government’s income, and walking out of debt-ceiling negotiations in 2011 while pressuring *everyone else* to reach a compromise? These are not illustrations of a man with integrity. They are illustrations of a typical politician trying to make himself and his party-of-choice look good while pandering for votes, nothing more.

To your last point – you are only partially incorrect. Giving YOUR OWN money to help the poor is indeed endorsed. However, taking someone else’s money, regardless of what you intend to do with it, is theft (even if you disguise it as a tax) and theft is NOT endorsed by Christianity. Simply put, the ends do not justify the means. It’s the equivalent of being so moved with “compassion” for a homeless man on the street that you reach into the wallet of the person ahead of you, and give some of his money to the poor man, then take a cut for yourself for handling the transaction. How noble. Don’t get me (or conservatives in general) wrong: We don’t support the elimination of government programs. If that were so, no welfare program would ever have any Republican backing – but they do. (For the record, I’m not a Republican, despite being a conservative). Rather, we oppose the abuse of these programs, which has become widespread. Some people legitimately need these programs, but they need reform so people can’t abuse them as a lifelong source of income, excepting, of course, those who are genuinely disabled and unable to work. I know, the media paints conservatives as being completely opposed to these programs, but in the real world, outside of media sell-a-story la-la land, it doesn’t hold up in principle OR practice. However, no politician would dare stand up for such welfare reform because it would be political suicide, regardless of party affiliation: The people have learned they can vote for money.

Food for thought, thought – it was once possible in this nation to be a conservative democrat or a liberal republican. “Polarization” has solved that over the years unfortunately, which has taken much away from internal party viewpoint diversity on both sides.

NunaBizness

uh sir i have a question how is obama racist? If you just wake up patriots like you would realize this country was not completely honest to the world from the start so as soon as obama comes into play you just blame obama… obama didnt start this so don’t be all of a sudden biased. All of the presidents took their turn crapping in the government

NunaBizness

he didnt even see racism mentioned but anyways the other guy said obama is racist. and mike is right in some cases such as all presidents raised the deficit

Chandler Elliott

Actually, some Presidents did actually manage to balance the budget even
if only for a short time. (Ex: Dwight Eisenhower and Bill Clinton)

Kristy James

Not really much of anything.. Seems like Reagan really did nothing… Booo Reagan! Bet he would not be able to handle what Obama was handed. People like victor maglike are just one of the many sheep that the GOP has led by the nose! They have them under control destined to be poor forever. Sorry to say it… Maybe one day they can turn off FOX and use the brain they were born with.

Guest

And you’re our future? God help us all.

joe

Who dares compare Obama to Regan? That is the best laugh I have had all week. Obama wants to take away guns, Regan was shot at 70 years old and insisted on walking into the hospital by himself. Then still backed americans right to own arms. Then the 70 year old freshly shot man returned to work 26 days later. Obama could never touch this man.

Guest

Brandon, your post was one of the best I have seen on any thread. Well said., Only the facts. Bravo.

john doe

Brandon, your post was probably the best I have seen yet on any thread. Well said. Only the facts. Bravo.

john doe

Staunch Obama supporters hate facts, especially when it goes against their dictator. Well done.

john doe

No, there is a difference between helping people on YOUR OWN and government TAKING from you and giving it to others. That is thievery. Big difference. Maybe you should understand the principles of Christianity before spewing foolish things. And I’m not even religious.

john doe

Facts are not things told to you by others who say here are some facts. They need to have happened to be facts. How many presidents were after Reagan up until today? So you’re going to blame the economic collapse on a president from 30 yrs ago? LOL. Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t know all the presidents after Reagan could not change anything once in office. That they are not accountable for what happens on their watch. You and people like you truly are stupid. And I say that in a very politically correct way.

john doe

How is he racist? If Bush came on national TV after a white kid got beaten and killed by a few blacks and said, “That could have been my son” I think blacks would have been screaming how dare he, what a racist he is… but it’s okay for Obama to go out of his way, when he didn’t have to and shouldn’t have, to make such divisive statements. It has only divided our country further.

Another thing – Why did Holder not allow the DOJ to investigate the allegation of The Black Panthers using voter intimidation outside voting booths in Philly?

Yes, many presidents have done wrong but not to the extent that this current president has. THIS is a fact.

john doe

How is he racist? If Bush came on national TV after a white kid got beaten and killed by a few blacks and said, “That could have been my son” I think blacks would have been screaming how dare he, what a racist he is… but it’s okay for Obama to go out of his way, when he didn’t have to and shouldn’t have, to make such divisive statements. It has only divided our country further.

Another thing – Why did Holder not allow the investigations to continue with the Black Panthers using voter intimidation outside voting booths in Philly?

1. Reagan didn’t “end the cold war.” It ended on its own. Due to Gorbachev’s attempt to stimulate the economy. Really, folks. P.S. one of the folks he funded to fight against the communists was… wait for it… Osama bin Laden.

2. Guess what? It also raised the national debt from about $900 billion to $2.8 trillion. At a rate of $237 billion per year. (During Carter? only by about $57 billion per year. Bush? Added another $4.9 trillion. Don’t even come up to me and say only Democrats add to the national debt. The only two presidents NOT to substantially raise the national debt? Clinton and Carter.) And, it dropped to 4% under Clinton.

3. Probably. Not sure that took much though considering the previous Rep. was Nixon…

4. Maybe. I don’t really know. It’s really hard to tell since I can’t prove
it didn’t stop a war. I am unconvinced. Especially since Bush then started the Gulf War using it. All I know is that we used a ton of our money building a military we probably didn’t really need. Building up that much strength encourages one to use it.

5. Okay, he was seen as optimistic. Good for him. This is probably true and probably needed. I’ll give him this one.

6-7. See #1 and #4. Although, missile defense is nice to have. This is a plus.

8. No. Just a whole lot of no. Reagan DID voice what is stated. But, he also completely ignored the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, arguably because it was a “gay disease” and that homosexuals deserved to die anyway. He allowed the homophobic rhetoric to control the response to the HIV epidemic and he had the capability to make a huge difference in the spread of HIV. I cannot ignore the wasted opportunity he had to stop something so devastating because he was homophobic or had homophobic advisers.

9. See #2.

10. The results of this are debatable (I think more bad than good in the long term, myself, but I see the immediate benefit). Unions occasionally have too much power, but it is NOT really up for debate that unions do good. I don’t understand why people ignore all the good that unions do. Take a history class and see what happens when companies get to treat their workers however they want. (Hint: Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, no minimum wage, no workplace safety regulations…) This very potentially could have led to the decline of the middle class as workers no longer had as strong a voice in their working environments and thus wages and benefits. Both parties MUST have a voice.

Also: Iran-Contra. And, the War on Drugs. Both not so great.

His immigration reform was relatively effective, but not effective enough long term. This is a half win in my mind.

I actually think Reagan was a pretty good guy. I just don’t think he was as a great a president as people seem to think. You can’t just ignore all the bad, long-lasting effects his presidency had on our country because you think some of what he did was good. He was just as flawed as any other president.

organizedFSBcrime

FOR EVERY CARTER (obama) AMERICA GETS A REAGEN

GET READY FOR YOUR LIFE TO BE DISAPPOINTED KID.

JenJen

Oh puh-leeze.

JenJen

READ AND LEARN: So, did Ronald Reagan bring on the end of the Cold War? Well, yes. Recently declassified documents leave no doubt about the matter. RUSSIA was dieing economically…..some of us remember the New YOrk Times articles about the bread supplies running out before the day ended . Reagan upped the ante for the Russians and they couldn’t match it.

It helped that the less hawkish Gorbachev was in charge in Russia. He had sense enough to fear REagans SDI program….Strategic Defense Iniative!

Reagan was the worst president in history. But thanks to the topsy-turvy, bizzarro world of modern conservatives, he is viewed as a saint.

JammieDodgerTwinz

Don’t forget selling arms to terrorists, raiding social security and tripling the debt.

JammieDodgerTwinz

Your disconnect from reality is quite disconcerting.

Guest

I think that Carter is in some ways underrated. Had his energy policy been adopted it could have prevented lots of problems.

To be fair to Reagan, he was already beginning to suffer from dementia by the time he left office. I don’t think you can reasonably expect him to live up to Carter’s post-presidency record.

lifelong learner

To the Guest that found this thread after 4 years: Duly noted. Diminishing Reagan doesn’t elevate Carter and I am somewhat fuzzy about Reagan’s health decline at the end. I’m glad he got to spend some golden years punching horses or whatever..

I’m not into hating on Reagan, but if he were alive today he would be hated on by the people worshiping him now. Re-visiting this thread is disgusting to see the Obama haters in full throttle.

Carter is still the most decent person to occupy the chair since WW2. And he got a raw deal from the various geopolitical time bombs and his treatment by the media.

tfb

Kathy Stuart

The first item posted above is absolute bollocks. Reagan did not end the cold war. The cold war ended because the USSR had bankrupted itself fighting an unwinnable conflict in Afghanistan. Reagan simply used the economic crash to toot his own horn, take responsibility and grab the laurels.

If the rest of your assertions are as incorrect as the first…

USindependent

this is an incredible load of garbage.. Reagan did not keep us out of fights.. The tax cuts and huge military build up were stimulus and have added trillions to the debt… and that stimulus has run its course.. the tax cuts and military spending are going to have to be paid for.. resulting in trillions sucked out of the economy.. who will get credit for the aftermath.. He broke a union and drove down wages and caused the disrespect of unions of blue collar workers.. .. congrats! tax reform.. tax cuts for wealthy people.. the end of tax breaks for working people.. add in a higher retirement age and increased SS taxes.. regressive taxation and a higher retirement age .. what’s not to like! A fully logical look at the reagan presidency is not as kind as love for the presidential actor… the man ate jelly beans and passed out during security briefings.. Reagan started this right wing era.. where we follow ideology instead of learning from experience to solve problems.. The country has basically been going downhill ever since his presidency..

USindependent

If you think Bush was a good president and Obama is the worst president ever.. you should check what you are drinking eating and listening to as there is something terribly wrong with your cognitive abilities.. You are being poisoned by something..

Justin Brown

Revisionist history,just they way the St.Ronnie acolytes like it,they worship the myth not the man!

westoast

The best part of this article is watching the Leftists go crazy in the comments section trying to erase the truth. Something they have to redo every day, all day long.

David

yikes, what a deplorable article. #2 is outright BS, and your #10 is why. # 9 he cut taxes for the wealthy and blew up the budget. # 8 every president promotes their values… # 6 was an utter waste of money and a complete failure… I noticed there was no Iran contra scandal, that was a huge scandal that our current president never had.